I read a ton of fiction this year, including classic stories and stories I'd missed from a few years ago. But I tried to focus my reading on works which appeared in 2016. While it's impossible to read everything our genre published, I sought out as much as I could.

Below are my recommendations for the year's best science fiction and fantasy novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories. This list will form the basis of my nominations for the Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

I'm still reading young adult novels for the SFWA Norton Award, so I left those off my list.